Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Metabolism
/məˈtæbəlɪzəm/noun
The whole set of chemical reactions by which a living body turns food into energy, tissue and waste.
The Greek roots
μετά
metá
across, beyond
βάλλω
bállō
to throw, cast
Literally: “a throwing across, change”
The story of the word
Metabolḗ was Aristotle's ordinary word for change of any kind, one state thrown across into another. Nineteenth-century physiology narrowed it to the chemistry of a living body, and English took the term from German in 1878. The two halves came later: anabolism for the building up, catabolism for the throwing down, both still carrying bállō, to throw.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → German → English
- First recorded
- 1878
Same family
anaboliccatabolismparablesymbol
In a sentence
Cold water raises your metabolism for a while, then your body stops being impressed.
Yeast metabolism is what makes the dough rise.